Harry Potter actress, Emma Watson, is laudable for her continued achievements in acting, academics, and most profoundly her activism for gender equality since the wrap of Deathly Hallows Part 2. She helped launch HeForShe, which calls for men to advocate for gender equality, and her speech to the UN in September of 2014 regarding feminism has been viewed over 10 million times on YouTube. Last year, Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world. From a child actress to an Ivy League graduate to a UN Women Global Goodwill ambassador at 24, Watson has grown into a role model worth following and deserves to be recognized in Women’s History Month.
Recently, she did an interview with Esquire to discuss modern feminism for the modern man (and we also catch a glimpse of her adorable admiration for Tom Hanks). Watson touches on the wage gap in Hollywood and around the world, the backlash against the word ‘feminism,’ and her decision to put acting on hold to be part of the feminist movement. Understandably, Esquire questioned the actress’ desire to discuss the issue on a men’s magazine.

ESQ: Isn’t Esquire a slightly odd place to be having this discussion?

EW: Well, that’s part of the reason I pushed so hard for it. So often, feminist issues are being discussed in a room labelled for women, with women, talking about women’s issues, focusing on women. But this is an issue that affects everyone. Everyone. That is what HeForShe is about. This is affecting men, too. I want to really talk to men about it.